XiaolinMama

Camp Galileo Inspiring the Artist Inside

  

Camp Galileo was one of my 8 year old's summer highlights! We have been to dozens of summer camps over the years. Some are better than others, some you can't wait for it to be over.  Camp Galileo challenged my precocious gal and left her deciding that she'd like to be a scientist/artist when she grows up! Well worth the price of admission in my opinion.

Here are some highlights from my interview of said camper and her reflections, with a few comments from her dear old mama:

What did you like about Camp Galileo?

Art and science were my favorites.  I liked making clay hands, like the artist Rodin. I loved facepainting and the different theme days.

Me:  She knows who Rodin is?  Be still my heart! 

My favorite project in science was making grappling hooks and launchers.  There was a mini- Eiffel tower that my teacher built.  We'd shoot the  Grappling hooks at the tower so that the Lego men could climb up the grappling hooks. I want to make one for my older brother and attach one to his go-cart.

Who did you hang out with all week? Did you know anyone? 

I made three friends.  I hung out with them all week. They were funny.

Me: My sweet girl is fairly outgoing, so I am not usually worried about her finding someone to play with. But she was really worried when we drove up the first day that NO ONE would sit with her at lunch.  Fear was unwarranted! Whew.

Three words to describe camp: Awesome, terrfical and creative!

Overall as a parent, I look for programs that will give my children experience that they are no going to get during the school year.  At 8 years old, my child needs something than arts and crafts.  Camp Galileo offered quality arts education and coupled that seemlessly with science lessons. They constructed grappling hooks and complex Rube Gold machines - all in a fun environment. The key messages at camp were to: innovate, learn and envision.  In Silicon Valley, those lessons are essential to any successful venture, so its perfect to have our kids learn these here. 

The staff also paid attention to building skills outside of the activities.  For example, Kiley won a Leadership award for being a good example and teamwork. Sweet, right? For my daughter, it meant the world.  

It was a great week and we can't wait to sign up again next year!

Disclosure:  Camp Galileo sponsored my daughter's week at camp. All opinions about our experience were her's and mine alone. 

Battletag: An 11 year old Slumber Party's Review

Imagine 7 eleven year old boys spending the night for a birthday party sleep over. (Crazy-I know.)  My son convinced me that pizza, brownies and his XBOX 360 + Kinect was all the boys needed for a guaranteed good time.  Seemed like a good idea, but as the day approached we began to worry.  That is a lot of boy in one house - we probably need to come up with something outdoors for them to do... and so it began, the quest to find an activity that would engage them, exhaust them (so I could get to bed at a decent hour) and be fun enough for all 8 of their personalities. Enter Ubisoft's newest offering BattleTag aka, party savior! 

Battle of Giants Dinosaurs Strike Review

Battle of Giants Dinosaurs Strike game by Ubisoft brought our whole house down memory lane last weekend. When my now 10 year old was 5 he was obsessed, crazy obsessed by dinosaurs. He had them up on his wall, on his shelves and on his sheets. He could tell you random details about all of them from why the giant T-Rex had small arms to how fast Raptors could fly.  Alas, that obsession was replaced by all things Toy Story and in turn, they were replaced by the advent of Pokemon.  Boys. Sigh.

Battle of Giants Dinosaurs Strike brought the dinosaurs back to our house with a vengeance. Last week we invited a bunch of the neighborhood boys ( ages 9, 10 and 11) and several of my 7 YO daughter's friends to test out the follow up game to Battle of Giants - Dragons.

I thought it would capture the boys' interest, I mean with Boys and Dinosaurs it was sure to be a hit.  But I was genuinely surprised at how much the girls liked battling it out as well. It took the kids all of 5 minutes to get set up.  The kids got to create their own dinosaurs, picking their own colors and type.  Then we set everyone up in a tournament, allowing 4 kids to play at once. Awesome - Because watching others play is NOT as fun as actually playing.  The boys especially liked being able to tag team battling with each other. It took me a while to figure it out, but my 9 year old partner, helped me figure it out.  

 

I loved watching the pure joy on the faces of the boys (and girls) as they battled. High fives were slapped as boys won and there was a lot of jumping and screaming.   Look at my son - what a psycho! All signs of a good game in my book.

Life in Silicon Valley - Neighbors and Ferrets

I am lucky enough to have a very responsible 10 year old.  So much so, that I can take a walk to my neighborhood Starbuck's and get a coffee without worrying that he will  burn my house down or open the door for a stranger.  I did just that this morning. 

So what happened while I was gone picking up my latte? 
Apparently one of the neighbor boys, J, came over and asked to hang out. My son listening to my instructions told him he wasn't allowed to have guests, so he'd have to come over later. (Whew, great response!)   Upon his arrival, J told his mom that he couldn't play at our house until later and that some guy was crawling around our house looking for a "fairy".  What? 

The Making of the Measure A commercial - A vote for kids

 

Yesterday the kids were asked to be in a commercial for the Yes for Measure A campaign - a hugely important measure that provides funding to provide health insurance for unisured children in Santa Clara County who are not eligible for other public programs.

As a good momma, I prepped them by having them practice smiling big, speaking clearly and answering politely.  So of  course, they asked them to be serious and not smile - a challenge for Kiley, who naturally has a smile on her face.
 

 

 

The crew was fantastic.  They had a room full of legos, video games and of course, craft services - complete with bite size cupcakes, vegetables and teriyaki beef jerky (my kids' favorite - yuk)!    Be on the look out for my little stars and their 30 sec spot in the first two weeks of October. 

Scrapbooking Stinks

Someone recently informed me that May is National Scrapbooking Month.  I love a good holiday and the excuse to celebrate, but Scrapbooking stinks. Let me rephrase. I stink at scrapbooking.  I have bought the letters, the paper, the cute book you put the pages in.  But I just don't get it and am not talented in this AT ALL.

My kids' baby books are lame. They kinda started okay, but when I realized that it took me an hour to curate 2 pages, so I threw in the towel.  They are a ugly hodgepodge of mixed pages - testimonies to my lack of skill and vision.

I love to look at done up scrap books. I marvel at the time it took and the love put into them. My sister for example, has their lives perfectly documented - with pretty paper, grommets, archival tape and stickers.  She is the awesome.

What will my kids have instead of a coveted scrap book?  A banker's box full of art projects and our memories outlined on my blog for the whole world to see. Poor kids, I am sure my blog will be WAY more embarrassing.

What is normal anyway?

Much like the amazing women in Beth Feldman's book "See Mom Run", I can't help but laugh at the follies that make up my "normal life".  I laugh even harder when I think about what I thought was "normal" pre-children. 

The holidays make me crazy.  Yes, in the my book, there is nothing that puts me on edge more than te monthlong preparation for the Christmas festivities.  It is enough to bring any strong woman to tears. Due a variety of factors (economy and the swine flu - a whole 'nutha story), I said NO to the madness this year.  I said NO to a week long trip to spend the holiday with my extended family. We said NO to extravagant gifts and I said YES to gift cards, when I usually pride myself on making handmade gifts.  We had a quiet holiday.  We spent time as a small family together.  We played board games, watched movies and rode our bikes around the neighborhood.  We had 5 blissful family days together.It was great, until I realized we had to fill in 6 more days of winter break with activities.  I own my own business ( three actually), so I was not on a "real vacation", but "working from home".  sigh.  I plied the kids through the week with "movie rentals", "arts and crafts" and "extra" video game playing time".  It rained in Northern California, ensuring that kids were forced to stay inside.  (Just what  a work-from home mom needed) 

With 48 hours left, I  started to pat myself on the back for making it through the two weeks.  I started planning what to buy at the grocery store for the following week's lunch.  I referred to my calendar thinking about when I would schedule a manicure to treat myself.   I started to do the Happy Dance because soon life would go back to normal.  The kids would be in school soon and I could work guilt free for 8 hours a day!   Woot! Woot!

I then looked at my sweet daughter and noticed that she was napping; strange for my 6YO in the middle of the day.  Oh, is that green goop around her eye?  Frick, she has pink eye!   She is going to miss the first day back to school?  We were so close to getting back to "normal"!  What is normal anyway? Life has been in flux ever since I unexpectedly found out I was pregnant over a decade ago.  Sigh.

We spent half the next day at the doctor's office and pharmacy, we squeezed in a trip to the grocery store to buy orange juice and set up the "sick room".   Welcome to parenthood - and my new sense of normal.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Soccer Lessons

I have written several times about the trials and tribulations of being a soccer mom.  There have been times I have been frustrated by overbearing parents and bad referees.  I have gushed over my six year old daughter's first goal and lamented whether traveling all over Northern California for tournaments is a "good thing" for my ten year old.  I've wondered what it all has it really taught my kids, aside from the fact that a 7-11 slurppy cures most field injuries. 

This week my son surprised me.  His team has struggled all season, winning some and losing some. They are good, but not good enough to win a regional tournament or so I thought. I have watched my son grow from being the youngest and most inexperienced  on the team to one of the leaders and key to their success. He is confident on the field, agressive when needed and understands the "game" of soccer.  This weekend we had a family trip planned to go to Disneyland with a  gaggle of bloggers.  Well of course, his team is headed to the soccer championships. 

I think most kids would have left thier team high and dry given the choice between riding on Space Mountain and a soccer game in Manteca, CA.  He chose the team.  He shyly told me that while he wanted more than anything to go to the Magic Kingdom, but he thought the team would lose without him.  He acknowledged he was a leader and had a responsibility to stay with the team and help them win it all.  Whoa- big concepts for a lil' guy.  Maybe all this driving and practice is worth all the gas money!

Disneyland Memories 2009

More stories at Disneyland Resort

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This past weekend, my family and I had the opportunity to join mom bloggers at the Disneyland Resort. It was  a great trip filled with the stuff lifelong memories are made of. Click on over to Xiaolinmama Reviews

for the entire story.  Full disclosure: Disneyland Resort paid for the trip, lodging and all admission fees.  Thank you Disney! 

A Six Year Olds Thoughts on Losing A Tooth

Full of sass, my dear little one, shares her thoughts in losing her second tooth.
I am gonna be in trouble when this one is older.